If you do not have Inventory Forecasting, you won't be able to run these prompts. Reach out to [email protected] if you'd like to talk about Inventory Forecasting.
New to Sherpa? Start with the standard Inventory Forecasting prompts first.
In this article
Pro tips
Replace [bracketed text] with your actual values — For example, change "[product]" to "Blue sneakers" or "[category]" to "socks"
These prompts work best with clean data — Make sure your costs, margins, and inventory levels are up to date
Combine with simpler prompts first — Use the standard Inventory Forecasting prompts to get oriented before diving into these
Sherpa remembers context — You can refine and expand on previous queries in the same conversation
How profitable is my inventory?
Gross profit and margin analysis
"Show all products with gross profit over $2,000 but in excess status"
"Find products with 30%+ gross margin that are at risk of stockout"
"Which excess products have the highest gross profit - prioritise those for promotion"
"Segment by gross margin tiers and show excess rates for each"
Unit cost economics
"Show products where unit cost is >30% of AOV"
"Calculate ROI: gross profit vs inventory holding cost for excess items"
"Analyse by unit cost ranges - do cheaper products have higher excess rates?"
Revenue concentration
"What is the revenue concentration % for [product name]?"
"Why is revenue concentration 0% for this product?"
"Show products with revenue concentration >10% that drive the business"
"Find Class A products with low revenue concentration - potential misclassification?"
"Using the Pareto distribution - which products make up 50% of revenue?"
How do products compare to each other?
Product benchmarking
"Compare [product A] to other variants in the same category"
"Show all products in the [category] category - how does [product] rank?"
"Find products with similar metrics: 10+ days cover, Class A, increasing trend"
"Benchmark: is 12% sell-through rate normal for products in this category?"
Cohort analysis
"Group products by out-of-stock date range (0-30 days, 31-60, 60+) and analyse"
"Create cohorts: products launched in the same time period - compare performance"
"Compare stock-to-sales ratio: excess vs healthy vs at-risk categories"
Portfolio distribution
"How many products in my inventory match this profile: excess, increasing, Class A?"
"Show distribution: how many products have 10+ days of cover?"
"What percentage of my inventory has sell-through rates below 15%?"
Finding patterns across products
Pattern identification
"Find all products with the same pattern: excess + increasing trend + Class A"
"Show products that share these characteristics: high days of cover + low sell-through + positive margin"
"Identify clusters: products with similar stock-to-sales ratios and trend directions"
"Which product attributes correlate with excess status?"
Cross-metric filtering
"List products with positive gross margin + low revenue + high days of cover"
"Identify decreasing trend + low stock + Class A = urgent reorder candidates"
"Find Class A products with decreasing trends - these need attention"
Trend interpretation
"Product shows 'increasing' in both quantity and gross sales - by what percentage?"
"Show products where actual monthly sales are below their average quantity benchmark"
"Find products with volatile monthly sales (high deviation from average)"
Stock-to-sales analysis
"Find products with stock-to-sales ratio above 5.0"
"What's the ideal stock-to-sales ratio for products in my 'healthy' category?"
"Show me Class A products with abnormally high stock-to-sales ratios"
"Compare stock-to-sales ratio: excess vs healthy vs at-risk categories"
"Show inventory-to-sales ratio by product"
Advanced forecasting calculations
Coverage and burn rate
"How many days of forecasted demand can current inventory satisfy?"
"Calculate coverage ratio: (on-hand + incoming) / forecasted demand"
"Show burn rate: current stock / daily forecast"
"Project inventory depletion date for each product"
Clearing excess stock
"This product averages [X] units/month - is that enough to clear [Y] units?"
"Show products where actual monthly sales are below their average quantity benchmark"
Service level
"Calculate service level based on stockout frequency"
"Calculate total inventory value (on-hand + incoming)"
Classification deep dives
Understanding classifications
"This product is Class A in gross profit but only revenue concentration 0% - explain"
"What percentage of my Class A inventory is in healthy vs excess vs at-risk?"
"Find Class A products with low revenue concentration - potential misclassification?"
Cross-classification queries
"Show me all Class A products that are also in excess status"
"Find Class A products with decreasing trends - these need attention"
"Which A class products have abnormally high stock-to-sales ratios?"
Where to go next
Start with the Sherpa AI prompts: Inventory Forecasting article if these feel too complex
Use Product Intelligence to understand your A, B, C, D classifications
Set up Dynamic Product Tagging to automatically act on patterns you find